Suki did this. She found some way to vandalize the pagoda. That’s how she was able to “predict” that something was going to happen and set me up.
Outside the audience chamber, the clouds are parted and the sky is clear. On the ground I see the shadow of the logograms forming in the sky.
“Vicious. Attack. Investigated. As. Part. Of. Empress. Dowager. Hostage. Plot. As. Attention. Turns. To. First. Students. From. Shin. Buy. Pearl. Shining. Sun. News. To. Get. Whole. Story.”
Make me drink sand to death.
* * *
That afternoon, the New Deitsu Pearlworks Company team arrives to repair the pagoda. I had thought that they would come with a great crew of workmen and perhaps animals and equipment and tools and enough materials to repair a great pagoda. Instead, it’s a small team of eight. They’re dressed more like artists than workmen. They come bearing a palanquin.
What’s strange about the palanquin is that it’s so small, the size of a box for stage makeup. It couldn’t possibly seat a person, not even a child. Yet it’s so heavy it requires eight people to bear it on long staffs.
Supreme Sensei Master Jio announces during the morning assembly, “It is the sweet honor of Pearl Famous to welcome Chairman Niu Kazuhiro of the New Deitsu Pearlworks Company.”
I look for Hisashi to see his reaction to the arrival of his father, but I don’t see him or Doi.
“Please bow to him ten thousand obeisances of gratitude, little embryos!”
I hear a rustling behind me and turn. Doi is skating toward us. Heavenly August Personage of Jade, what is she wearing?
She’s changed from her black academy robe into some white costume covered in rows of pearl-like beads, with a skirt that’s open in the front but ends in great spreads in the back, like a half circle of wings. It’s majestic but much too small for her. It looks as if Doi outgrew it long ago. On her head is a crown of false pearlsilk feathers. She stands at the far edge of the gathering of girls and looks at her skates. What under heaven is she trying to do?
Chairman Niu skates to the dais. He’s tall and handsome, like his son. The gold mandalas embroidered on his robe make him look less like a businessman and more like a statesman.
“No need to bow ten thousand obeisances of gratitude, little birds,” he says. “You just had morningmeal. Eight thousand eight hundred and eighty-eight bows of obeisance will be more than plenty.” The students giggle. He has the same easy charm as Hisashi. I understand why the government asked him to handle political matters with Shin.
“Now, the most important thing to me is that none of you worries about this damage to the Pagoda of Filial Sacrifice. There’s nothing more important than your studies. We’re investigating whether there was a rogue waterspout that damaged the pagoda or an unmapped earthquake spine, but none of that matters. We’ll have the pagoda repaired as quickly as possible so you first-year boys can get on with your Vertical Battlefield Motivation. You’ll be hopping all over the tiers of the pagoda like a handful of grasshoppers tossed onto a hot skillet before you know it!”
He smiles. I see where Hisashi got his dimples.
“Now, I’ve got a job for you to do. While the New Deitsu team does its work, no one except the three third-year students who have devoted to the Conservatory of Architecture will be permitted to face the worksite. So don’t face south until your senseis say you may. Can you do that for me?”
The students murmur and giggle.
“What happens if we face south?” asks Honking Girl.
“You’ll be expelled, of course.” The Chairman assumes a mock stern expression and wags his finger. “And then imprisoned in a horrible torture chamber that will shrink until it crushes you into a tiny pebble that I can pop in my mouth!”
All the other students laugh as if it were a game.
But I grew up under the rule of the Empress Dowager. I know that when powerful leaders do strange things, it’s not something to consider a game. It’s something to fear.
“So remember,” he says, skating past the rows of students, “don’t face south until your senseis say you can. Now, concentrate on your studies so you can bring honor to your esteemed parents.”
I watch Doi’s face crumple as the Chairman skates right past her in that outrageous outfit, as if she weren’t there.
Doi looks at her father’s back as he leaves. The muscles in her jaw are set like stone.
The girls begin to disperse to do the day’s regimen of Chi-lengthening exercises.
“Nice outfit.” Suki comes skating over to Doi, flanked by the girls of the House of Flowering Blossoms. “Too bad your father didn’t see you in it. Maybe you’ll get another chance when he visits again. In another eight years.” The girls titter behind their hands.
Doi doesn’t look at them. She skates to the bench where she laid her academy robe. She begins to change out of her costume.
“When was the last time?” continues Suki. “Eight years ago? Twelve? Apparently, he doesn’t even know what you look like anymore, since he skated right past you.”
What is she talking about? Suki is an eternal waterfall of ludicrous accusations. But it’s true that Doi’s father ignored her. How could he miss her in that outfit?
Doi peels down to her undershirt.
Suki says casually, “So is it true that your father caused your mother’s death?”
Now she’s just saying things to Doi because there are people around to hear them. I want to tell Suki to shut her mouth, but I don’t want her to turn her waterfall of accusations back on me.
Doi’s elbow snags in the sleeve of her costume. She struggles and loses patience with it.
